Only 6 percent of large donor funds from 5th CD residents have gone to Ellison this year

A Smart Politics analysis of 2009 Federal Elections Commission (FEC) data finds that DFL Congressman Keith Ellison has only received 6.4 percent of individual itemized funds contributed by members of his own 5th Congressional District to the state’s eight U.S. House Representatives from January through September of this year.

That places the 2-term Congressman a distant 6th in fundraising within his own district. Both Republican Erik Paulsen and fellow DFLer Tim Walz have raised more than four times the amount of large donor money in the 5th CD as Representative Ellison.

Itemized individual donations are those totaling $200 or more per contributor for the election cycle to date.

Although the 5th CD ranks sixth in the Gopher State in terms of median household income (at $50,725 per year), Ellison’s district has contributed the second largest amount of money to the state’s eight U.S. Representatives this year.

Overall, the 5th Congressional District has contributed over $210,000 in large donor funds to the Minnesota U.S. House delegation. Residents of the 5th CD have contributed $65,000+ more in large donor funds than the much wealthier 2nd CD (which has a median household income of $73,284) and $80,000+ more in contributions than residents of the 6th CD (which has a median household income of $69,909).

Residents of Paulsen’s 3rd CD set the pace with over a half a million dollars contributed to the state’s eight U.S. House members so far this year.

Itemized Individual Income Contributed to Minnesota U.S. Representatives by District, January-September 2009

District
Dollars
Percent
Median Income
3
$551,160
41.8
$76,117
5
$210,069
15.9
$50,725
4
$163,998
12.4
$53,763
2
$149,290
11.3
$73,284
6
$129,385
9.8
$69,909
1
$72,320
5.5
$51,448
8
$26,215
2.0
$46,044
7
$17,200
1.3
$45,887
Total
$1,319,387
100.0
 

FEC data compiled by Smart Politics. Median household income data from U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey.

Despite the significant amount of money coming from the 5th CD this year, very little of this $200,000+ is being directed by residents to their own Congressman’s campaign. Ellison has received just $13,400 of his nearly $200,000 in itemized individual contributions raised this cycle from 5th CD residents.

Erik Paulsen leads the way in the 5th with $58,364 in large donor money directed to his campaign, or 4.4 times as much money as Ellison has received from his own constituents.

And lest one believe that the only individuals giving large amounts of money in the Democratic-heavy 5th CD are Republicans, DFLer Tim Walz raised $57,570 through September in Ellison’s district, or 4.3 times the rate of Ellison.

Republicans Michele Bachmann ($29,245) and John Kline ($26,315) rank 3rd and 4th in fundraising in the 5th district, with Betty McCollum in 5th place at $16,325.

Itemized Individual Income Contributed by 5th CD Residents to Minnesota U.S. Representatives, January-September 2009

Rank
Representative
Dollars
Percentage
1
Erik Paulsen
$58,364
27.8
2
Tim Walz
$57,570
27.4
3
Michele Bachmann
$29,245
13.9
4
John Kline
$26,315
12.5
5
Betty McCollum
$16,325
7.8
6
Keith Ellison
$13,400
6.4
7
Jim Oberstar
$8,600
4.1
8
Collin Peterson
$250
0.1
 
Total
$210,069
100.0

FEC data compiled by Smart Politics.

As Smart Politics reported in April, July, and October of this year, the vast majority of Ellison’s fundraising has come from out of state sources. In the first nine months of 2009, more than 84 percent of the $195,885 Ellison raised in itemized individual contributions have come from outside of Minnesota.

Moreover, the 6.4 percent of 5th CD money netted by Ellison is by far the lowest among Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives in terms of the percentage of in-district contributions directed to their respective campaigns.

Four of the state’s U.S. House members have netted more than half of the large donor contributions coming from their own district to the state’s eight Representatives: Tim Walz (58.6 percent of 1st CD contributions), Collin Peterson (56.5 percent of 7th CD funds), Erik Paulsen (54.5 percent of 3rd CD contributions), and Michele Bachmann (51.8 percent of 6th CD donations).

Ellison’s 6.4 percent of in-district funds also pales to the percentage of funds raised by John Kline (40.3 percent of 2nd CD contributions), Jim Oberstar (21.9 percent of 8th CD funds), and Betty McCollum (17.7 percent of 4th CD donations).

Percentage of Itemized Individual Donations to Minnesota U.S. House members Directed to That District’s U.S. Representative, January-September 2009

District
Representative
Percentage
1
Tim Walz
58.6
7
Collin Peterson
56.5
3
Erik Paulsen
54.5
6
Michele Bachmann
51.8
2
John Kline
40.3
8
Jim Oberstar
21.9
4
Betty McCollum
17.7
5
Keith Ellison
6.4

FEC data compiled by Smart Politics.

Check back with Smart Politics all this week for more analysis of district-level fundraising data.

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Posted in Campaign finances, Minnesota, MN US House, National Politics, U.S. House

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